Pierre-Yves Chapalain, "Soon in the woods", press conference of the 17 July 2022

Pierre-Yves Chapalain could have been a farmer like his parents. From his rural upbringing, he has kept a unique relationship to nature which shines through in At the Edge of the Woods, his latest creation, written during lockdown. A time during which many city-dwellers fled the cities for the countryside, some of them never to return. But for people more used to consuming than to creating, adapting to this new environment can be difficult. That’s what happens to this couple moving into a house they inherited. She dreams of quiet, of a return to an authentic life, connected to her environment; he’s something of a hypochondriac and can’t stand all this silence. As for their local neighbour, all he wants is to buy their land to expand his farm. All of a sudden, all turn to the woods, right at the edge of the village, where take place wild parties whose location no one can seem to find. At the Edge of the Woods is an oratorio in which music leaves space for narration, and where the mayor of the village comes to us to reveal the context, story, characters, and motivations: everything we need to let our imagination carry us away.